Torque or Horsepower

[fenderbender]

I'm confused. What is the difference between the two? Which is more important?

[66bunny]

To put it simply: You drive torque, you race horsepower.

[wildthing]

torque would be your pulling power...mostly associated with diesel engines

horsepower would be synonymous to speed power...mostly associated with gas engines

Technical off-roading is mostly torque related and drag-racing is mostly horsepower related

You'll need both or having both (high torque, high horsepower) would be a good thing.

However, maximum torque is sometimes attained at lower rpms so parang useless ang horsepower. Maximum horsepower sometimes are realized at high rpms so the torque is also low naman (hindi na kailanga gaano ng torque dahil meron ng momentum ng speed or acceleration ng sasakyan e).

did that confused you more?!?

[kimpOy]

torque=instant rip your head accelaration

horsepower=waiting for 5 seconds before rip your head accelaration

[badkuk]

my understanding is, horsepower answers how fast you can launch your car, and your maximum kph, while torque is will tell you how much load you can handle, even on terrain that's not necessarily flat/level

imho it's like the gears on a car: at primera/segunda you won't go very fast, but you have lots more pulling power; at 3rd/4th gear, you can go very fast, but if you come across a steep enough hill, you'll find yourself scrambling to switch to lower gears....especially on a 1.3L like mine B).

[roninblade]

torque is the amount of power that the engine can transfer to the wheels. in other words... torque is the pulling power.


here are some other definitions of torque :

The static twisting force produced by an engine. Torque varies with the length of the "arm" at which the twisting force is measured. Torque is a force times the length of the measurement arm: Torque = Force x Torque Arm, where Force is the applied or the generated force and Torque Arm is the length through which that force is applied. Typical torque values are ounce-inches, pound-feet, etc.

A unit of measure describing the twisting force, or leverage, an engine can exert on the rear wheel. Typically, an engine with a lot of torque will have the potential to speed up faster at lower rpms.

Torque is the force that causes an object to rotate. In vehicles, it refers to the rotational force generated by the engine - in other words, the pulling power.

[ian_rex]

well, for me horsepower means the power to propel the car in high speeds, where as the torque is the ability to turn the wheels loaded or without load. though these two are very essential in an engine, if were to choose which is my priority, i prefer torque in a much wider range say i.e. 1800 rpm to 2500 rpm. maximum horsepower is only achieve at high range rpm, which means you'll going to need a wide stretch of unobstructed road to have it. sa probinsya pwede ito, sa city malabo. basta always remember, horsepower is always inverse proportional to torque. pag mataas ang horsepower, most likely mababa or mahina lang ang torque.

[Poops]

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/7177/torquehp.html

[roninblade]

pag mataas ang horsepower, most likely mababa or mahina lang ang torque.

that just sounds wrong to me.

[pissword]

minsan parehas mataas eh... different level nga lang talaga maachieve yung max torque and hp